“They are trying to trap us,” Duke shouted. “Get back to the van, Delta,” Duke bellowed as he surged forwards. Duke pulled his machine gun towards the front of his body and charged through the wall of fire with his arms in front of his face to protect himself. Zack skittered along the edge of the fire like a moth at a lamp.
“Duke! Duke!” He looked for a way through but there was none. A gun was fired somewhere beyond the flames, and the shouting was drowned out by the roaring inferno. More glass smashed. Bullets were unleashed at unavoidable speeds, but Zack couldn’t see anything of what was happening. He was on the other side of the wall of fire, and suddenly he realised just how it felt to be shut out by the enemy.
“Duke!” Zack shouted again as he reached down to the holster on his leg. He pulled the gun out and angled it with the business end somewhere towards the sky. What he was supposed to do with it, he didn't know. But somehow it made him feel better. The people in Gamma Tower were crazy. They were wild, just like Sarah said. They were burning themselves alive. There was an all-out mutiny in progress and his instincts told him to run away, but where was he supposed to run to?
The van. He could run to the van. But what good would that do him? Instead he followed the edge of the fire, shielding his face with one hand. He found that the land meandered towards a ditch, perhaps the bed of an old dried-up stream. He ran down into it looking for a way through. He didn't know what he was trying to achieve by getting to the door of Gamma Tower, but whether he wanted it or not, he was part of the team that arrived here. He didn’t know what most of them had done in the past, and maybe, just maybe they deserved whatever was coming to them. But with the idea of a life of freedom just beyond the confines of New Omega, there might be something worth trying to protect. The very thought that he could live in a home with Sarah and a child. To have a neighbour. To have choice. To be able to step from his house and walk in the streets unhindered and free. It wasn’t something he could give up on just like that. He had to protect the people he came here with.
He followed the course of the old stream, bringing him closer to the entrance of Gamma Tower. The wall of fire had intensified and he could hear more machine gun fire coming from behind it. He snatched at his hair, turning on the spot not knowing what to do. At that moment he saw a figure burst through the flames and land on the floor behind him. Zack ran back, and when he reached the person rolling on the floor he saw that his face was tinged black from soot with a streak of blood slashed across his face. He recognised the man as Lund. He was already staggering onto his feet, scrambling in the direction of the van.
“Lund, wait,” Zack shouted, running after him. By the time Zack reached him Lund was already in the van. He was hunched over, tussling with a trap door in the floor of the vehicle.
“Help me with this,” Lund replied with a thick Danish accent. Without question Zack jumped into the van and helped him pull the cover away. They tossed it aside, blocking a couple of seats upfront. “They have surrounded the place with Molotov cocktails. They are clever bastards. For helvede!”
“You're bleeding,” Zack said. Lund reached up to his face. He had lost his goggles. He traced the wound with his glove, a gash that ran from his forehead diagonally across his left eye. He pulled his hand away and stared at the slippery red coating on his fingertips. The sight did little to disturb him because he was pumped with adrenaline, and so he continued to reach into the compartment buried in the floor of the van as if he hadn’t seen anything at all.
“Help me pull this up,” he said to Zack. Zack tossed the handgun to the floor of the van and together they pulled up a green box, unmistakably military. Across the side of the box the words SMALL AMMUNITIONS, U.S. ARMY had been stencilled in utilitarian lettering. The box was heavy but Lund hoisted it up under his arm as if it weighed no more than a feather. He dropped back out of the van and charged back towards the fire. Zack stood up at the rear edge of the van, and from his raised vantage point he got a better glimpse of what was going on behind the flames. He couldn't see any of the team that he had arrived with, and he couldn't see Duke. What he saw was a series of rebels on the roof of Gamma Tower, most of which were wearing Omega uniforms. They made explosive sprints along the length of the building trying to coordinate their efforts, hurling more petrol bombs and rocks towards the ground. Zack could still hear distant gunfire and this seemed to spur them on. Each round of gunfire was met by increased effort from those on the roof.
Zack told himself that if he deserved the future that lay beyond Omega Tower, he couldn't chance everything falling apart while he sat back and did nothing. He dropped his feet to the ground, reached back to snatch up the gun, and began running towards the flames. He made a quick assessment that there was nothing on the floor to trip him, and then ducked his head down, covering his face with his arms. At the last minute he thought about the hood flapping like a parachute behind him. Slowing his pace a fraction of a second, he reached back and pulled the hood up over his head, catching on the goggles. Every sound became muffled. He pulled the hood down, covered his face again, and charged through the flames.
After a moment of intense heat he found himself on the floor amongst the dust. He had tripped on something just beyond the flames. Before he could look up, a rock struck him on the side of the head. He brought his arm up to protect himself, and another struck his arm, bringing forth an immediate sense of anger. He wanted to shout that he was one of them, that he had been in Delta Tower for ten years. But on the ground he was just another face of the enemy, and he knew it. His time in Delta meant nothing anymore.
When a boulder large enough to smash through his skull landed at his side he began dragging himself along the floor. He pulled with his elbows, the gun still gripped in his right hand. He kicked and pushed with both feet, trying to get some purchase on the uneven surface. He made it to the shelter of the building and braced himself against it. The heat was overwhelming, like he was sitting right in front of a fireplace on a cold winter's day. He searched for somebody he knew but saw only bodies on the ground, all of which were motionless. There was one in front of him whose foot was in the fire. That was what he tripped on. More rocks fell from above and he tried to look up, but the sunlight forced him to squint, and all he could see was a few shadows cast in silhouette by the glare of the rising Sun.
“Delta,” somebody shouted. Zack looked towards the entrance of Gamma Tower and saw that Duke was beckoning him. Zack scurried along the floor. The foyer was empty now. “I told you to get back to the van.” Zack didn't answer. Instead he watched Lund and Nielsen pull a series of cylinders from the green box that Lund had collected from the van. Another body was shambling towards them. There was blood running from his head, spilling onto the chest of his orange boiler suit. His gait was unsteady, and Duke stood up to guide him to the ground. Duke pulled back the orange blood-streaked hood, and lifted the goggles. It was Pederson, and he was incoherent. Lund and Nielsen paid no attention and were back on their feet. They were trailing a cable behind them, pulled from a reel in Duke’s hand.
“Delta, get him out of here. I don't want to lose anybody else. This tower is done.” Lund and Nielsen disappeared around the side of the building, pulling the cable with them. Duke jabbed a metal rod into the ground and threaded the reel of cable onto it.
“What are you going to do?” Zack asked as he ducked to avoid another falling rock. Another Molotov cocktail exploded only a couple of metres away and both of them flinched. Pederson remained limp.
“Just get him back to the van,” Duke shouted. “You can’t be here now.” He pulled a few more cylinders from the box and ran. Zack looked down at Pederson who wasn't moving or talking. He took a quick glance skyward to check for rebels, and upon finding none he crouched behind Pederson and positioned both hands under his armpits. He dragged Pederson backwards, running sideways to try to pick up some speed. There were no more petrol bombs, and no more rocks fell around him. It was as if the rebels had disappeared.
Zack ran back towards the building, bracing himself for another trip through the flames. Maybe there was another person he could save. But as he braced himself he saw Duke burst through with the fuse cable. Nielsen and Lund were right behind him. Nielsen grabbed the cable from Duke and shredded the insulation back with his teeth. As soon as the tip of the wire was exposed Duke snatched it back and attached it to a box with a handle on the top. Zack didn’t need any training to realise it was a detonator. Not once did any of them break their stride.
“Go, go, go,” Duke shouted at Zack, who turned on his heels towards the van. More bodies emerged through the flames, crazed rebels making their last stand. Zack jumped up into the van, and Nielsen and Lund who were quicker on their feet than Duke, jumped in after him. They were coughing, and both staggered to the front of the van.
“Tell him to get moving,” Duke shouted as he approached, and Nielsen slapped the panel behind the driver’s seat. The van roared into life as Duke lunged at the opening. With his feet still dragging on the floor they began to drive away.
The rebel men and women were still charging, and one of them launched forwards and snatched at Duke's belt. The weight alone was enough to pull Duke backwards. Duke fell, clinging on with just his fingertips. Without time for thought and with the gun in his hand, Zack fired. The bullet struck the rebel man’s side and he fell away from Duke, tumbling to the ground, limbs twisting and turning as if he was made from rubber. Zack tossed the gun into the van and reached forwards to grab Duke. He hauled him into the van with Nielsen’s help as they gained pace over the dusty terrain.
Lund stood over Zack and pulled his machine gun to the front of his body. He unleashed a round of bullets which floored the rebels who were running from Gamma Tower. They fell, their bodies disappearing into clouds of dirt. The crescendo of Omega's assault began as the first sticks of dynamite that Nielsen and Lund had set around the perimeter of the building exploded. It was like day one in Delta all over again as Zack watched the flames and the clouds of dust rising in the sky. As the only one on his feet, Lund entered the key code on the panel next to the door. The doors closed to the soundtrack of Nielsen’s cheering as he looked back upon the flames, chanting obscenities at a bunch of dead bodies.
“Nice shot,” Nielsen said to Zack as the doors closed. He sat down on one of the bench seats. Duke was clambering to his knees. He leaned on Zack's arm to balance himself before falling onto the bench next to Nielsen.
“Thanks for that, Zack. If you hadn't shot him I would have been on the floor with the rest of those Drifters. They'd love to catch one of us. They would have eaten me alive.”
Zack nodded as Duke slapped him appreciatively on the back. But Zack couldn't focus, and he couldn't move his lips. He stood up, stumbling as he stepped onto the bench seat, his fingertips clinging on to the rim of the tiny slit-windows. His breath fogged in the paint-free glass as he looked back towards Gamma Tower, engulfed in flames and smoke. It was as if he could hear the screams of the people inside, every one of them just like him, wanting something more than they had. It might as well have been Delta Tower. It might as well have been him.
The people inside had been fighting for a chance at freedom. They wanted the same thing that he had wanted for so many years. He thought he was here to build a world where people could once again live freely. But instead he was watching them burn, looking on as their hopes and dreams and lives went up in smoke. This was how his parents died. This was how Samantha died. Only this time there was no foreign enemy to blame.
He had arrived in Omega Tower certain that what he would find was freedom, but it was starting to seem like a hell worse than the ten years stuck in Delta. In Delta Tower he had been blind to the truth. He had lived in a shadow of what the real world had become. He had always tried to convince himself that those in Omega Tower had been trying to help him. That they were protecting him. And maybe they were, but from whom? Were they protecting him from this, from the Gamma Tower residents? Was it the Drifters that constituted the threat to his future? Maybe they had been protecting him from himself?
But Zack was starting to see that the only thing he had been protected from was the truth. They had kept it hidden so that he would stand in line, obey the Guardians, do his job without complaint or malaise. But this was the truth. Omega was nothing more than an autocratic regime set on suppression and killing to suit their own aims. Now he realised that out of all the terrifying things he had seen or dreamed of in the last ten years, the truth was turning out to be the most terrifying thing of all. But now that he knew the truth it didn’t matter how painful it was anymore. Because once you feel the truth, breathe it as if it was oxygen, everything else was a poison.
Chapter Thirty Four
When they arrived back in Basement Level One, Zack helped to pull Pederson from the van. They shifted him onto a stretcher before he was spirited away by eager Comrades. Dr. Watson was on hand, but he looked flustered, and was yelling something about the need for a transfer. Zack wasn’t paying much attention.
Nielsen and Lund, the only other survivors from the trip to Gamma Tower were encouraged into waiting wheelchairs. A gaggle of Comrades attempted to make their regulatory checks, but the nurses got the better of them and soon had the chairs heading towards the health centre. Duke was standing to the side of the van answering some preliminary questions. Two other Comrades tried to get Zack to sit in a waiting chair. They insisted that he required medical attention. But all Zack wanted to do was disappear from their company, get to his room and shut everything and everybody else out. He peeled away his orange boiler suit and stepped out of the thick Wellington boots whilst one of the nurses tended to a cut that Zack had sustained over his left eyebrow. Zack brushed the fidgeting hands away from his face and made his way towards the exit door. He slipped back into his uniform and left the gaggle of activity behind him.
“Zack,” somebody called. Zack turned, following the voice. It was Duke, calling him by his real name. Duke gave a solemn nod of his head in a way that Zack was certain acted as acknowledgement that he owed Zack his life. Zack didn't know if trading the person he used to be in an effort to save Duke was worth it yet.
What Zack was certain of was the fact that news regarding the demise of Gamma Tower had begun to spread. As the lift ascended he caught a view towards the east, and the glow on the horizon looked like sunrise at the break of day. Perhaps it was just because he knew it was there. Perhaps he was imagining it. But when he stepped from the lift on Level Seventeen and saw the crowd at the window looking east, he knew that they were staring at the smouldering remains of what was once Gamma Tower.
Zack stepped back into the lift and rode it until level sixty nine. He stepped out and climbed the stairs to the viewing level. The gentle hum of the wind was softer today as it breezed past the exposed openings. He hadn’t been here since the first day with Simon. He didn’t have to try hard to find the remains of Gamma Tower, but where he wanted to look was past that. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for behind the flames and the smoke he tried to imagine Canvey Island, separated from the mainland and protected from the sea by the flood defences. He sat for a while, cross-legged like a child on the floor. He stared at his reflection on the glass. Who was this person sitting before him? How had he learned to casually destroy life without as much as a second thought? He wondered how many more chances he might get to do the rig
ht thing before those chances stopped coming his way.
Sarah was sitting reading when he arrived back at the door to her room. A book from the library. A copy of the Omega Manifesto. He didn’t really want her company but the idea of being alone was intolerable. He needed to feel a connection to somebody, to remind him that there was something worth living for, and the other day her touch had been enough. When she saw him she was quick to her feet. She set the Omega Manifesto down on the table and raced towards him.
“Everybody has been talking about what happened today. Oh, our good President, look at you.” She ushered him towards the chair. She grabbed two towels from the cupboard and spread them across the cushions before guiding him to sit down. She picked up the cup, chamomile tea, and forced him to sip it. He didn't offer any resistance.
“I shot somebody,” Zack blurted out, never once making eye contact with Sarah as she crouched in front of his knees. She brought the cup away from his face and set it back down on the table. Her breathing quickened and her mouth hung limp as a wilted flower. After a moment she swallowed and stood up. Zack could hear her moving about behind him, rummaging in the cupboard, and then running water. After a minute she was back in front of him with a bowl of warm water. In it she had placed a small flannel and bar of soap. She rubbed the soap against the flannel and the strong smell of medication swept across him. She squeezed out the excess water and then took his left hand in hers. She rubbed the flannel over the skin of his arm three times before drying it with a separate towel. She worked his body out of his tunic top and began work on his shoulder without saying a word.
The Dawn: Omnibus edition (box set books 1-5) Page 33